Allergies again

[arlingtonnurse]

How do you handle food allergies for school wide events?  I am at an elementary school with a diverse population and many of the biggest most meaningful events that we have in the school revolve around food.  We have a huge international day which features lots of interesting foods from all over the world and we also have parent breakfasts which also involve parents bringing in food.  Wondering what kinds of safeguards people have used to protect kiddos with allergies.  The potluck all parents are supposed to be in charge of their kids but it is very large (and joyfully chaotic) with so many moving pieces it's often true kids are more with their friends for a lot of the exploring.  Family breakfast is a different challenge.  They are smaller but generally not all families can make it so there are students without a guardian.  Both of these situations make me very nervous for students with allergies, but they are such a joyous way of celebrating and gathering and honoring our family's' heritages I can't imagine cancelling these events (which is essentially what making them food free would entail).

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

We just re-wrote our Wellness Policy and made food for celebrations a thing of the past - no more birthday cupcakes, no more family food parties - for this exact reason - too much room for error. The only exception is if the food is a curriculum element and pre-approved by the nurse, cooked at school so that cross-contamination can be avoided (for example, we have a teacher who does a Stone Soup play every year and the class makes a very simple soup that can easily omit allergens & food restrictions). We even went so far as to say fundraisers that involve food intended to be eaten immediately (I.e. candy bars & krispy kreme donuts) cannot be delivered during the school day. So far, we haven't had any complaints, but it is early days. 

Could you ask that the food portion of the cultural celebrations be held after school, supported by the PTO? Our PTO is separate from the district, and so anything they do is outside of our purview and the school cannot be held liable for things that happen during their events as it is not "school sponsored". 

Another thought is that instead of a potluck for the family breakfasts, families are told to only bring breakfast for themselves - then they still get to enjoy eating with their kids and staff, but it is more self-contained.

It's possible that you could ask for families to provide ingredient lists ahead of time and then there could be a sort of permission slip where families opt their kids in/out of certain dishes. Then, maybe the kids hold the permission slips and provide it to the server who can double check that the kid is allowed to eat that item. You could probably create a Google form that parents submit the ingredients on and then another one that references each recipe and ingredients with a multi-choice selection. Maybe limit it to 3 choices or something. And maybe if you don't get the opt-in form, the kid can't participate? Definitely a lot of work though, and I can see a whole potential for inequality here as well, however...